


what's left of us

by wayward_stranger



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Action, Angst, Drabble Fic, Drama, Fight Scenes, M/M, One-Shot, Sci-Fi AU, hajime grows claws and everything, hajime's an experiment test subject, the two of them being bad-ass, tooru tries to get them to escape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 16:20:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8997976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wayward_stranger/pseuds/wayward_stranger
Summary: He was called Patient 4061, the main test subject for Project Black Cat. They've experimented on him, given him claws, slowly turning him into something that he isn't. But Tooru is determined to stop them from erasing what's left of Hajime.
They aren't going to have what's left of us.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheIntrovertedM](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheIntrovertedM/gifts).



> Here it is finally! Some IwaOi sci-fi angst (much festive, very fanfic). I've had this idea for some time and I was super hyped to write it for you so I hope you like it! Thank you so much for being my (first) online friend. Thank you so much for giving me that kurotsukki playlist that started Fast Car, for being my Mum Friend, for liking and reading my fics, and for helping me out with the whole idea of being demisexual and everything. You're awesome man. I really hope we do get to meet someday. Merry Christmas Mel!!

“Hajime… Hajime, wake up!”

Hajime opened his eyes. His room was completely dark his eyes quickly made out Tooru’s face looming over him and the details in his room. ‘Perks of being a genetically modified science experiment,’ he thought bitterly. Unfortunately, the drugs the doctors previously dosed him with were still in effect. Groaning, he rubbed a hand over his temples as he forced himself into a sitting position.

“Here. Drink this,” Tooru said, pushing a glass of something in his hand. Hajime took it and drank the contents without question. Almost immediately, his headache cleared away. Kei took the glass from him and sat beside him on his bed.

“How… how long was I out this time?” Hajime asked.

“Two days,” Tooru sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Do you remember what happened before passing out?”

“Before I was sedated, you mean?” Hajime said bitterly. “And yeah, I still remember what happened.”

Patient 4061 was the main test subject for Project Black Cat, one of the many genetic modification experiments carried out by _Genus._ ‘Hajime’ was only half of the name that he remembered from his old life, before his memories were wiped out. The facilitators and doctors in _Genus_ called him Patient 4061. It was a submission tactic used on all the other ‘patients’ in the facility. All of them were labeled with a specific number to show that they were owned by _Genus._ That’s why Hajime made sure to hold on to his own name, his last link to his identity. And so did Tooru.

_Genus_ was a top-secret organization with its headquarters located somewhere in the mountains, far, far away from the public’s eyes. A good thing too. Since none of what occurred in _Genus_ could be considered ‘ethical’ or ‘moral.’ The organization conducted scientific and psychological research that required the use of human subjects. And since the law surely wouldn’t allow such experiments to be conducted, _Genus_ had their own means of acquiring their test subjects.

Hajime looked down at his bandage-wrapped hands. Even though two days have already passed, the wounds still ached when he clenched his fists. Hajime could still recall the feeling of claws cutting through the skin of his knuckles and curling over his fingers. 

“They’ve made a monster out of me…” he whispered, gripping his knees tightly. Tooru quickly took one of his hands and pressed his lips against his knuckles.

“You’re not a monster,” he murmured. “They’re the monsters, the ones who did this to you.” Hajime could feel his hot breath on his skin. He sighed and leaned his head on Tooru’s shoulder. He had only one good thing besides his name. He had Tooru with him.

“What happened while I was gone?” Hajime asked. Tooru bit his lip and let go of his hand. Immediately, Hajime sensed that something was wrong. He sat up straighter as Tooru drew his legs into his chest, hugging his knees.

“I…I’ve been selected for an experiment,” he said shakily. “They’re doing it in Ward E.”

Hajime inhaled a sharp breath. Ward E was where most of the psychological-based experiments were conducted. What occurred to the test subjects of those experiments were never revealed to the rest of the ‘patients.’ The only that Hajime heard about them was that they usually ended up mentally damaged beyond repair or… dead.

“When?” Hajime asked, gripping Tooru’s arm tightly.

“…Tomorrow,” he croaked.

“Shit,” Hajime cursed under his breath. “That’s not going to happen. _I’m_ not going to let that happen to you. They are not taking you away.” He stood up and began to pace along the confines of his small cell. “That means we’ll have to make our escape by tonight.”

“A-are we prepared enough for it?” Tooru stammered, standing up as well.

“Of course we are. You take charge of what to do and I’ll do it,” Hajime answered. “Besides, we have no choice but to leave tonight.”

“You’re right…” Tooru nodded. “It’s midnight now. We only have a few hours before they find out we’re gone.”

Despite the hopelessness of everything, Hajime couldn’t help but smile. “Alright. Let’s do this.”

…

_Tooru knew there was something different about Patient 4061 the moment he saw him in the dining hall. Unlike all the new patients who shared vacant stares and slow movements, Patient 4061 seemed more… ‘alive’ than the rest of them. In fact, it looked as if he was just acting to fit in. But even so, Tooru chose not to get his hopes up that there would be someone like him around, someone who wasn’t as drugged and empty as the rest of the ‘patients’ in Genus. Unlike the rest of them, Tooru had been able to keep the memory of his own name and the wits to survive undetected in a place like this._

_Quietly, Tooru kept his eyes focused on him as he ate his lunch slowly. As the man carried his tray back to a table, his eyes met Tooru’s. His gaze lingered for far too long for it to come from an almost brain-dead patient. Tooru felt a smirk curl on his lips before the patient’s eyes quickly darted away._

_‘Gotcha,’ Tooru said to himself as he returned to his lunch. He didn’t look up at Patient 4061 anymore as he ate. Then, once he finished, he picked his tray up and made his way to the garbage disposal area. He passed by his table on the way._

_Tooru left one message: There’s drugs in the water._

…

At precisely 12:30 in the morning, the two of them snuck out of their respective cells. Tooru, having been there longer than Hajime, had already memorized the patrol guards’ routes. The security cameras were harder to sneak past, however. But with Hajime’s heightened senses of hearing and seeing in the dark, they made it to the bathing areas without much of a hitch.

“You’ve got the map, right?” Hajime whispered. The bathing areas were visited less frequently by the guards so it was safe to actually talk. But even so, Hajime made sure to keep an ear out for the sound of footsteps.

“Yeah,” Tooru nodded, pulling a paper napkin out of his pocket that had a rough map of the facility’s drainage system on it. “We have a few hours left until they find out we’re gone. It’s going to take us approximately two hours to navigate through the drainage system.”

“And then we’ll leave the facility’s grounds,” Hajime said gruffly. _Genus’s_ facility was located in the mountains and surrounded by forest. Tooru knew, from months of observation, that there were guards in the forest as well. But unlike the facility’s grounds, it would be much easier to escape them with the help of the forest’s camouflage.

“Which stall was it again?” Hajime asked as the two of them walked silently through the rows of shower stalls.

“The farthest one. This one,” Tooru pointed before ducking into the shower stall farthest from the rest. He crouched down, pulling out a spoon he snuck out of the cafeteria from his pocket, and began scraping at the thin cement layer between the tiles.

“That will take too long,” Hajime hissed, crouching down behind Tooru and holding up a bandage-wrapped hand. “Let me do it.”

“No,” Tooru abruptly shook his head at him. “You’re still healing.”

“I can heal again,” Hajime protested. “We need to leave _now,_ Tooru. This will buy us some time.”

Tooru bit his lip, gripping Hajime’s wrist tightly. “I don’t like seeing you hurt…” he whispered. Hajime smiled and cupped a hand gently against his cheek.

“It will only hurt for a little while,” he said softly. Tooru sighed but gave in by letting go of his wrist. Hajime unwound the bandage covering it, hearing Tooru inhale sharply at the sight of the wounds on his knuckles.

“Only a little while…” Hajime whispered again. He clenched his hand into a fist, tighter and tighter, until his claws appeared.

…

_Tooru was right about Patient 4061, or should he say, ‘Hajime.’ The man remembered his first name and he was aware of what was being done in Genus. That was more than enough for Tooru. Genus trusted their mind-erasing methods too much for them to consider the fact that there were patients who managed to slip past it. So, Hajime was also cleared of the suspicion that he could be an undercover spy._

_Tooru had been a ‘patient’ in the facility for years, more than enough time for him to notice and observe the ins and outs of the facility. Which water was un-drugged and safe to drink. Which wards conducted which kinds of experiments. Which doctors to look out for. Tooru told Hajime everything._

_It didn’t take long for them to start talking about other things too. Dreams about escaping. Dreams that Genus would somehow, miraculously, be discovered and taken down. Dreams about dying peacefully, even. Those kinds of things._

_Hopeless things._

_“Well, what if we like make a beacon or something to attract people to this place. Maybe a plane would fly past and see this place and wonder what the hell it’s doing here,” Hajime said. It was late at night and he had snuck out of his cell into Tooru’s. The two of them were sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall and looking at the night sky in front of them._

_“We don’t have the materials to build a beacon,” Tooru shot down the idea. “And even if we did, they’d probably take it down five seconds after we put it up.”_

_“Well that should be enough time to signal a plane or something,” Hajime said._

_“No way,” Tooru shook his head. “Genus was probably smart enough to pick an area where planes usually don’t fly through. It would take us weeks, maybe even months, to actually signal one if we had a beacon.”_

_“Then… then…”_

_“If you think too much your head will explode, Hajime,” Tooru teased._

_“Shut up! I was making stuff up. It’s not like they’re going to happen anyway…” Hajime muttered._

_“I know,” Tooru chuckled. “I like the fact that you’re still hoping. It’s lonely doing it by myself,” he sighed and looked out the window. “You know what makes me sad?”_

_“Apart from everything else happening to us?”_

_Tooru smiled bitterly. “Well, apart from everything else…” He raised a hand to point at the small square of sky showing in through his window. That was one of the things he was thankful for, that he had a window to look out at the sky._

_“The sky is this whole, big, broad thing that covers the entire world…” Tooru said softly. “But this is all I get to see of it.” He felt Hajime’s hand on his. The warmth of it shocked him slightly. He was all too familiar with the feeling of gloved hands poking and prodding him during physical examinations. But Hajime’s hand felt warm and reassuring, it felt human._

_Tooru had his first kiss that night._

_The next day, Hajime was signed up for Project Black Cat._

…

Tooru would never get used to seeing Hajime’s claws appear. But even so, he resisted the urge to wince or avert his eyes at the sight of it, not wanting Hajime to feel even more self-conscious about what he was being turned into. The claws did get the job done much quicker though. Soon enough, the cement was completely scraped off, allowing Hajime to pull the section of the wall off.

“Great, now that’s done,” Hajime whispered, wiping the hand with no claws over his brow. The small entrance led directly to the facility’s drainage system. Tooru had discovered this hollow section in the wall once while he was showering. And after consulting with the facility’s blueprint which he found in one of the maintenance offices, he confirmed where it led to.

“Nice job,” Tooru smiled. Hajime grinned back but it soon disappeared at the sound of footsteps approaching that even Tooru could hear.

“Shit,” Hajime cursed under his breath. He looked at Tooru with panicked eyes. “What do we do?” The footsteps were getting louder and louder. Hajime could pinpoint them coming from the entrance of the bathing area.

“Are there any more near?” Tooru asked. Hajime concentrated his hearing again before shaking his head.

“One down the hallway,” he replied. “Quite far actually.”

“You have to take this one out,” Tooru said. “But make it quiet.” Hajime nodded before standing up and bracing himself against the wall of the shower stall. He quietly signaled for Tooru to go ahead but he just shook head and stayed firmly in place.

‘Idiot,’ Hajime said to himself. Suddenly, the guard’s footsteps drew nearer and nearer. Hajime kept his clawed hand at ready. When the guard appeared by the shower stall, he lunged instantly, wrapping a hand over his mouth to stifle his scream. The guard didn’t even have time to pull out his gun when Hajime slit his throat. There were jerking movements at first, then stillness. Hajime lay his body down on the floor of the shower stall.

“Serves him right,” Tooru said, looking down at the body. Hajime nodded. In the dark, he instantly recognized the guard’s face. He was the one who stuck the syringe in his neck two days ago when Hajime had lashed out.

“They’ll find his body soon, hopefully not too soon.” Tooru knelt down and pulled the flashlight and gun that the guard had with him. “We better take these with us.”

“Right. You keep the gun,” Hajime nodded. Tooru turned on the flashlight and shone the light through the small entrance they made before crawling through.

…

_There were many times when Tooru felt fear consume him. But none of those compared to the time when he saw Hajime being carried away along with a number of other patients to Ward C, the surgical ward. Masking his emotions was the hardest thing he had to do that day, having to maintain his vacant expression while the person he loved was taken away._

_And so, seeing Hajime being taken back to his cell the next day brought Tooru inexplicable joy. That meant he was alive. That was all that mattered._

_Tooru visited him that night. There was a bandage wrapped over his eyes. When it was removed, Hajime had the heightened sense of sight that worked even under darkness. ‘That’s not bad,’ Tooru had thought. It wasn’t bad at all, considering all the other experiments that were conducted on the patients in the facility._

_If only it had ended there._

_If only it had ended before they gave him claws._

_Tooru remembered visiting Hajime after the new surgical operation they did on him. This time, his hands were the ones wrapped in bandages. That night, Hajime came out of his drug-induced haze with long, black claws ripping through the bandages._

_“What have they done?!” Hajime yelled furiously, staring down at what his hands had become. “What have they done to me?!” He began tearing at his hands, as if he was trying to dig the claws out. It only resorted in him ripping the skin of his forearms._

_The sound attracted the patrol guards. Tooru ran out of Hajime’s cell before they appeared. The next day, Hajime had more bandages around his hands and arms._

_That’s when Tooru knew that they had to get out of that place._

..

“Which way?” Hajime asked, turning around to look at Tooru. It had been an hour since they first entered the drainage system and they were deep in the inner parts of the area. He was knee-deep in brown, murky water and his ultra-sharp sense of smell picked up different things from it. Most especially the smell of blood.

“Turn right,” Tooru ordered, looking up from the paper napkin map that he had with him. Hajime obeyed, wondering what he would do if he didn’t have Tooru with him. He was the one who came up with most of their escape plan.

“How much farther are we?” Hajime asked.

“More than halfway through. Just a little farther.”

_Splash_

Hajime froze and put an arm out to stop Tooru. “What?” he asked. “Do you hear anything?”

_Splash_

Hajime heard it again, much louder this time. He concentrated his hearing and pinpointed it coming from the main path he and Tooru just took.

“Shit,” Hajime cursed. “I hear someone coming. No, wait.” He stopped and listened more. _Splash, splash, splash._ There were more now, coming from the same direction. “There’s more of them…”

“They must have found the body already,” Tooru muttered. “We’ll have to make a run for it.”

Just then, a flash of light appeared behind them. Hajime turned around to find three guards standing before them, flashlights and guns raised.

“Hands up and surrender before we shoot,” one of them ordered.

“Tooru, run ahead,” Hajime said under his breath.

“Idiot,” Tooru snapped. “I’m not leaving you.”

“I’ll catch up. These guys are a piece of cake. I’m part monster, remember?”

“Hands up and surrender before we shoot,” one of the guards ordered again. The three of them walked nearer and nearer.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Tooru muttered. Hajime willed the claws of his other hand to come out.

“NOW!” he yelled, sprinting forward at the same time. The guards fired at him but Hajime efficiently wove past the bullets. The last surgical operation he had didn’t just add the claws, it gave him more physical strength and speed too. The guards didn’t stand a chance. Hajime slashed at them with his claws until they fell before turning around to join Tooru. However, as soon as he caught up, three more guards appeared ahead of them.

“Shit, there’s more of them,” Tooru cursed, raising his gun and firing at one of them. The bullet found its mark in one of the guard’s arms. Hajime sprinted forward, weaving through the bullets just like he did last time, and slashed at the guards. But just before he killed the last one, he aimed a bullet right at Tooru.

“NO!” Hajime cried, aiming a slash at the guard’s neck before running to Tooru’s aid. He was shot in the leg, thankfully, but he was bleeding a lot too. And having his leg submerged in the dirty water was probably going to cause infection. Tooru cried out in pain as he tried to stand up.

“More are… coming…” he huffed, holding on to Hajime’s shoulder to prop himself up. Sure enough, the sound of more people splashing through the drainage system could be heard.

“Shit,” Hajime swore. Their plan was slowly spiraling down the drain. But they had no choice but to move on forward. He lifted Tooru up and carried him in his arms.

“Which way?” he asked.

“Right, then left,” Tooru answered, looping his arms around Hajime’s neck. His skin was pale and his breathing shaky. Hajime bit his lip and ran.

…

After almost an hour of running and avoiding guards, Hajime finally managed to efficiently lose them and stop for a rest in one of the tunnels that led to their exit. The area was dry so he set Tooru down on the ground. Hajime retracted his claws, with some amount of difficulty, before taking a closer look at the bullet wound on Tooru’s leg.

“I think it’s just a graze. The bullet didn’t hit,” Tooru said, hissing in pain slightly when Hajime peeled back his pant leg.

“There’s a lot of bleeding though,” Hajime said worriedly. Tooru removed the pack of supplies he had, taken from months of smuggling and hiding under mattresses, and pulled out a roll of bandages. Quietly, Hajime watched as Tooru wound the bandage tightly around his leg.

“That should hold it off for now,” he huffed. “Good thing I brought this.”

“Yeah but what do we do now?” Hajime sat down. “They know we’ve escaped. They’re going to have the place on lockdown.”

“We’re supposed to head to the fence,” Tooru explained. “Once we get over that one, we’ll be in the forest already.”

“But…” Hajime ushered him.

“But…” Tooru sighed. “It’s likely to be heavily guarded now that they know we’ve escaped. If they didn’t… then we’d easily be able to go past.”

“Damn it,” Hajime cursed again. “They were so, so close to their goal already but now, things were spiraling out of control. It was as if they weren’t meant to survive this hellish place. Rage simmered inside him but Hajime inhaled a few deep breaths to keep it down. The last time he forgot to keep it in check led him to lose control of his claws and attack some of the guards, subsequently causing him to be heavily sedated.

Hajime never had tempers like that before. He wasn’t sure if that was because of the genetic programming the scientists cooked up inside him or, if it was just him. And either option didn’t seem any good. Hajime only hoped that it didn’t cause him to hurt Tooru.

“Two bullets left…” his companion muttered, checking the ammunition of the gun he still had. “Better save it…”

“How come?” Hajime asked, seeing Tooru slide the gun in the waistband of his pants. “We can still use that.”

“We need to have at least two extra,” Tooru swallowed and looked down. “If… if in any case we don’t make it. I’ll make sure to get you first… then me…” His hands were in his lap, fingers twisting.

“I see…” Hajime nodded, understanding. He slid one of his hands into Tooru’s and gripped it tightly. “Make sure you find your mark.”

“I’m not going to let them take you, Hajime,” Tooru whispered, tightening his grip on Hajime’s hand until his knuckles went white. “They’re not going to take you.”

…

The least heavily guarded part of the fence was the south side, the part where the forest was denser. Right now, there were four guards in the area. Tooru didn’t think that was much of a problem considering that Hajime took out most of the guards earlier in the drainage system. Their main problem, however, would be the electric fence.

“The switchbox is right there,” Tooru said, pointing at the spot where one of the guards was standing. “If I can get to that, I can turn off the electricity. But I need a diversion.”

“You got it,” Hajime nodded, bringing out his claws again. “I’ll take care of the guards. Do you think you can run?” he asked, looking down at Tooru’s bandaged leg.

“I’ll manage,” he answered, biting his lip. His hand went to the waistband of his pants, where the gun was, and patted it to make sure it was still there.

“We’ll make it, Tooru,” Hajime said reassuringly. He smiled and placed a quick kiss on his lips. “You and I together, we’ll make it out of here.”

“Right,” Tooru nodded and smiled back at him. Having someone like Hajime with him was more than he could have ever asked for.

This was it. The last hurdle on their run for freedom. ‘Keep looking ahead,’ Tooru told himself. ‘Just get over the other side.’

“NOW!” he yelled. Hajime ran forward, heading straight for the guards while Tooru went around. The area was an open field so there were no places to hide behind. The four guards by the fence immediately saw Hajime and fired right at him. He raised up his claws to defend himself from some of the bullets while sprinting to avoid others. He could see Tooru ahead, running for the fence. At one point, he tripped and fell forward but quickly picked himself up and kept on limping ahead.

“Prisoners south of the fence. Prisoners south of the fence. Send back-up,” one of the guards said on the radio but Hajime quickly silenced him with a slash at his throat. He held up the guard’s body as a shield from the other guards’ gunfire before slashing at them as well.

Meanwhile, Tooru had already reached the control panel by the fence. Quickly, he pried it open and pulled down the lever inside to switch off the electricity.

“Hajime! Climb over!” Tooru yelled, turning around just in time to see Hajime finish off the last guard. Just then, two vehicles were sighted in the distance coming from the facility. Two vehicles loaded with more guards.

“Shit. Start climbing!” Hajime yelled back, sprinting towards the fence. Tooru grabbed the metal wires of the fence and began climbing up. His wounded leg screamed in pain but he knew that he’d face much worse if he didn’t climb fast enough. As he neared the top, he turned around to find the vehicles getting nearer and nearer. Some of the guards got out and began firing at them.

“Don’t turn around! Just go!” Hajime yelled beside him. He too was near the top. Tooru nodded and began climbing up faster and faster, reaching the top before dropping down to the other side. Pain shot up his leg once he came into contact with the ground and Tooru screamed in pain.

“Hajime? Hajime! Where are you?” he cried out.

“Right here,” Hajime appeared beside him. Quickly, he lifted Tooru up in his arms and ran in the direction of the forest.

“We’re safe Tooru. We’re safe now,” he panted, not stopping to rest and only moving forward past the trees that surrounded them. Tooru felt warm blood running down the wound of his leg and his vision was getting blurrier by the second. But he was alive, and Hajime was too.

Tooru turned around to take one last look behind them. The guards were crowded behind the fence, firing bullets that didn’t reach them and calling for back-up. Tooru gave a weak smile. It was too late now. They were no longer ‘patients’ with numbers for names. No longer brain-dead test subjects for them to experiment on and twist to their will. They weren’t going to take away Hajime and Tooru’s name.

They were no longer going to take what was left of them.

**Author's Note:**

> Ahahaha this wasn't edited so yeah... Hope you like it though and Merry Christmas again!! *throws a stocking full of ice cream and kittens in your face*


End file.
